A 1-mile bike path with a $9.2 million price tag

Minneapolis is all about biking, but the latest plan to connect existing paths into one (more) complete system has some in the city a little shocked.

Perhaps the price tag would make anyone think twice: a 1-mile path for $9.2 million, according to the Star Tribune.

More from the Strib:

Proponents say it's the final link in a century-old vision for paths connecting the city's lakes and the river. It will extend the Cedar Lake Trail, an off-street bicycle "freeway" linking western suburbs with the heart of the city. Downtown, the paved route will take cyclists next to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, under the new Twins ballpark and to the Mississippi River Parkway -- without crossing a single street.

Others say the path has become too pricey to justify as governments consider cuts to critical services because of the recession.

At issue is a geographically difficult three-block stretch of construction to extend the path all the way to the river, a change of plans for which proponents raised an extra $4.8 million in federal and state funding in 2005 and 2006. A city plan would have put bike traffic up a ramp and onto painted bike paths along local streets at that point.

Is the connection worth the price? Can we wait it out in hopes of better economic times or is that idea almost laughable?